Characterization and breakdown of the electricity bill using custom smart meters: a tool for energy-efficiency programs.

Abstract

Understanding and monitoring the electrical energy use is fundamental to encourage consumers and small business owners to implement energy-efficiency measures and, therefore, to cut their energy bills significantly. This works presents the design, development and implementation of an electrical energy monitoring sensor network which can be easily installed to measure and monitor the energy use of every appliance in a house, presenting to the consumer a detailed report of the energy spent by each electrical device (TV, lights, showers, etc.). The measuring units and a coordinator form a wireless network, which is capable of measuring the electrical energy and recording the data of each home appliance in the flash memory of the coordinator. The data stored in the coordinator is sent (via a wireless connection) to a computer where the analysis of the data is performed and a detailed report of the energy breakdown is presented. Keywords—PLC, Power meter, Sensor network, ZigBee.